


Pain In The Form Of Rhythm

by BallOfSunshine



Category: Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Prison, Psychological Torture, Slavery, Torture, punishmen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 23:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20161771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BallOfSunshine/pseuds/BallOfSunshine
Summary: A showcasing of Zero's gradual mental collapse. After the senate comes to the conclusion that Zero killed not one, but two purebloods, they think a fate worse than death is appropriate. Kaname is more than happy to oblige.





	Pain In The Form Of Rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> I take way too much pleasure in hurting poor Zero. Please, comment and tell me what I'm doing wrong or what you'd like to see more of. There is much more plot to the story than this chapter. This chapter is, for the most part at least, just aimed at setting the tone for the rest of the story.

Drip. Drip. Drip. 

Zero couldn’t get away from the noise. 

_ Drip. Drip. Drip.  _

Try as he might to ignore it, the steady cadence of the water wouldn’t fade from his thoughts. Rather, they slowed to match pace, images and syllables lining up with the rhythm. A stray beam of light glinting off of Yuki’s eyes as she gave him a final, lingering look.  _ Drip.  _ The fiery taste of Kaname’s blood, burning away the edges of Zero’s madness as it went.  _ Drip.  _ The careful flexing of his wrists, just enough to give him reassurance they were still there and usable, tethered to the wall. 

_ Drip. _

Sometimes, he made a game of it. Solely to stave off the ever present fog of boredom, he would twist his wrist to the beat of the drip. Divy up the timing of each drop, place an eighth note here, a sixteenth there. Memorize long strands of rhythms and movements, only to discard it all the next morning. It helped. The drip might be his undoing and his only companion. 

And oh, what company! The places this water must have been! Each drop had likely witnessed its own share of heartbreak and joyous reunion, desolate solitude and easy friendship, triumphant formations of kingdoms and steady national decay. Zero liked this about the water. All were equally possible and entirely unprovable. No one could tell him he was wrong, not even himself. The beauty lies in the flexibility of the story. If he didn’t like it, he could change it. 

_ Drip _ .  _ Drop. Drip. Drop.  _

Zero really hated days without rain. 

  
  
  



End file.
